Engine Failure Experience Improves the Product

There are the inevitable occasions when something goes wrong despite the great care taken when engines are designed, built, operated and serviced. Failures can lead at best to some cost and inconvenience or at the worst to a totally destroyed engine. The cost of repairs, followed sometimes by many weeks of down time, can be enormous. In addition there is the critical question of safety and the risk of injury to personnel. By analyzing failures and their causes a lot of experience can be gained and used to the benefit of all. This experience can improve future products. The paper describes some failures which have been experienced by the authors and shows how an analysis of the evidence has identified the root cause. We show how the knowledge gained improves our ability to predict engine behavior and the stress field in the components concerned. The paper goes on to describe what measures can be taken to improve the product and to prevent the circumstances from happening again. The use of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is described because experience gained from failures can make this an extremely powerful tool when used during the design process.